I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communication systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel and improved system and method for the insertion and extraction of telephone numbers from a wireless alphanumeric text message
II. Description of the Related Art
Remote communication with individuals has become increasingly important in a mobile society. Early versions of devices, such as pagers, transmitted a signal to a paging device worn by the user. However, the paging device did little more than provide a beep indicating that a message had been sent to the user. The user had to call a predetermined telephone number to receive the actual message. These early paging devices were replaced with text messaging devices that include a small display that permits the transmission of a text message, such as the message sender's telephone number. While the text messaging pager provided additional data to the user, the user still had to use a separate telephone device to contact the message sender, or to take action in accordance with the message.
Cellular telephones provide yet another form of remote communication. As with early pager designs, early cellular telephone technology simply provided audio communication with the cellular telephone user. These telephone systems did not permit text messaging. However, new cellular telephone designs include a short message services (SMS) message in which alphanumeric text may be transmitted to the cellular telephone for display. This feature is similar to text messaging in pagers. Industry standards exist to define SMS messaging for cellular telephone communications. One such standard, used for spread spectrum cellular systems, is TIA/EIA/IS-637, entitled "Short Message Services for Wideband Spread Spectrum Cellular Systems" (hereinafter called "SMS standard").
The SMS standard includes a "call-back" data field that permits simple call-back operation by the cellular telephone user. However, the message sender must create an alphanumeric text message, and must complete the call-back data field with the desired telephone number. The cellular telephone uses the telephone number in the call-back data field to program a calling queue within the cellular telephone. Thus, with the call-back data field, the user need only press a "SEND" key on the cellular telephone to call the message sender.
While SMS call-back data fields are convenient for the cellular telephone user, they are inconvenient for the message sender since multiple data fields, including the text message field and the call-back data field, must be completed by the message sender. Furthermore, many potential message senders do not have equipment which supports SMS call-back data fields. In addition, many cellular service providers include text messaging, such as SMS messages, but do not include the call-back data field capability. Thus, even when a message sender completes the call-back data field, the cellular service provider may not have this capability and thus the cellular telephone user does not have the simplified call-back procedures envisioned by those responsible for the creation of the SMS standard.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there is a significant need for a system and method that permits the insertion of data within the text message itself that can easily be extracted by the cellular telephone and used to simplify the call-back process. The present invention provides this and other advantages as will be illustrated by the following description and accompanying figures.